The people of Surfside have spoken, and there is a new mayor in town. Charles Burkett, not a new face on the scene, has beat out incumbent Shlomo Danzinger. This being his fourth time as mayor since 2006, he says residents know what they can expect from him. He first ran for mayor in 2004 and lost but then served in 2006 and again in 2020.
“They know me, and they’re going to get honesty and integrity,” Burkett told the New Times. They can call our office and talk with a representative.”
Burkett shared how he knew deep down that Surfside Residents would bring him this victory.
“I think we, deep down in our hearts, knew we would win, but we didn’t really want to internalize that thought,” Burkett tells New Times. “At the end of the day, we believed the voters of Surfside would come out.”
The rift between Burkett and his predecessor is not a secret; both men throw blows against each other. Burkett told the New Times that one of the first things on his radar is to stop the “corruption” happening in Surfside. He referred to the current voter fraud investigation in Surfside, where there has been evidence of registered voters who do not live there, including a house built by Dazinger’s vice mayor, Jeff Rose. Currently, this is being investigated by the Miami Dade Attorney’s office; when asked for comment by New Times, they have confirmed it is ongoing but that public information would be unavailable.
Burkett didn’t stop there, calling out Danzinger’s treatment of residents during town meetings, claiming that he and his team “want to arrest people who don’t agree with his views,” referencing the recent arrest of 18-year-old political activist Joshua Epstein after allegedly getting into a spat and pushing Vice Mayor Jeff Rose after a town hall. However, witnesses say the teen never touched Rose.
The teen’s mother, former town commissioner Eliana Salzhauer, spoke with Channel 7 about the incident, “ He’s 18, he’s very outspoken, and he’s a very outspoken critic of the current administration,” she said. “After the commissioner forum, Vice Mayor Rose came angrily charging at another resident, standing next to him and angrily getting into it with him. My son took out his phone and started recording. That’s what happened.”
One of the biggest changes Burkett plans to make is to halt the overdevelopment in Surfside. He plans to focus more on improving residential life and developing parks.
“We want to ensure the zoning code is protected and we are not adding more people to Surfside,” Burkett told the New Times. He plans to reverse most, if not all, of the changes made over the last two years, claiming they have been “developer-friendly” instead of focusing on residents.
“They’ve come along and made buildings wider and bigger, doubling their height,” Burkett told the New Times. “We have seen how much damage politicians can cause in two years.”
Izzy Writes 